Business owner Rebecca Cooke faces Rep. Derrick Van Orden in 3rd Congressional District

Wisconsin Democratic small-business owner Rebecca Cooke won an Aug. 13 primary and will challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden in November. Van Orden won the southwestern Wisconsin-based 3rd Congressional District seat 51.9%-48.1% in 2022.

Van Orden, who was present at the Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally in support of overturning President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory and reportedly crossed police barricades on the grounds of the Capitol building, has made national news repeatedly for angry outbursts. In July 2023, he received bipartisan criticism for cursing at a group of teenage Senate pages, the high school students who serve as messengers for lawmakers, who were taking photographs of the Capitol Rotunda.

The two candidates disagree on major policy issues.

Abortion

Cooke’s campaign site lists “protecting productive health freedoms” as a top priority. “I am a firm believer that every person should have the right to make the best decision for themselves about if, when, and how to start or grow a family, free from political or governmental interference,” she says. “In Congress, I will always protect reproductive healthcare and the personal freedoms of all Wisconsinites,” including upholding Roe v. Wade, backing federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and supporting federal family planning programs. 

Though Van Orden makes no mention of reproductive rights on his campaign website, he voted against them 100% of the time according to Planned Parenthood Action’s scorecard for the current session of Congress. In a May 2024 radio appearance on the right-wing “John Fredericks Show,” he said: “I’m a pro-life guy. I’m a Republican, I’m a Christian, I’m a grandfather, and I’m a pro-life guy. I just am. I mean, life begins at conception and every baby is a child of God.” He voted to block funds for armed services members who need to travel for abortion care and for a 2023 spending bill that would have rolled back access to medication abortion by mail and in pharmacies.

Economy

Van Orden’s campaign issues page says, “Derrick will work tirelessly to stop Democrat tax hikes and make sure more of your hard earned money remains where it should be: in your pocket.” He opposed President Joe Biden’s investment plans in 2021, which included tax increases only for those making more than $400,000, falsely tweeting: “@POTUS plan will increase taxes on everyday Americans. They are not telling you the truth.” Van Orden voted for a 2023 House bill that would have required drastic cuts to safety net and clean energy infrastructure programs and legislation to overturn Biden’s executive action to forgive student loan debt.

Cooke, who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation in 2019, founded Red Letter Grant, a nonprofit organization to help support women who own businesses. She backs a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour, programs to incubate child care facilities in small towns and rural areas, protections for workers’ rights, and investments in clean energy. Cooke also backs middle class tax relief but opposes making permanent expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which slashed tax rates for the wealthiest individuals and gave few benefits to working families. 

Health care

“I believe healthcare is a human right – and the biggest issue that we need to tackle as a nation,” Cooke says on her campaign issues page. She proposes adding vision, dental, and hearing benefits to Medicare, more Medicare negotiation for lower drug prices, a lower Medicare eligibility age, and more tax credits for those purchasing insurance through the marketplace under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

Van Orden’s campaign issues page says, “Derrick will work to make sure individuals with preexisting conditions are protected when Obamacare is fully repealed and a new system is implemented allowing for true competition in healthcare, driving costs down.” In March 2021, he tweeted his opposition to provisions in the American Rescue Plan that subsidized premiums for plans purchased through Obamacare’s health insurance marketplace, calling it an “ObamaCare bailout.”. 

Guns 

Van Orden makes no mention of guns on his campaign issues page, but touted an October 2022 endorsement from the National Rifle Association. “Our Constitutional Rights are under attack by the left like no other time I can remember. They have targeted our Right to Keep and Bear Arms in particular and I will have no part of that,” he wrote at the time. He has accepted at least $5,950 from the group. In 2021, Van Orden was fined for illegally carrying a firearm in his luggage at an airport in Iowa, according to a 2022 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report, an incident his campaign called “purely accidental.” 

Cooke told the Wisconsin Independent in 2023: “Our state has a rich heritage of hunting and gamesmanship, and I’ve hung out [at] a deer camp or two. That said, I think we need to require universal background checks, close the Charleston loophole, and enforce red flag laws. When asked recently if my aim was to take away people’s guns, my response was no. I want people to be responsible gun owners, to lawfully obtain and securely store firearms so they don’t fall into the hands of folks who are criminals or mentally ill. It’s called gun discipline.”